To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

APEX, N.C. – Every year, up to $16 million in North Carolina lottery tickets goes unclaimed – and there are only a few days left before a $160,000 Carolina Cash 5 ticket is put in that same category.

Back on Sept. 2 at a Handee Hugos store on East Williams Street in Apex, N.C., someone purchased a winning Carolina Cash 5 ticket. Five months later, the winning ticket has not been claimed.

“So we're still waiting for the people to show up? I hope they didn't throw it out,” Salpi Kazezian, an Apex resident who frequents the store, said.

But it wouldn't be a surprise if they didn't show up to claim the winnings. In fact, between $12 million to $16 million in cash lottery prizes have gone unclaimed yearly since the lottery began back in March 2006.

For Powerball, The Carolina Cash 5 and The Carolina Pick 3 game, winners have 180 days to claim their prize before it's disbursed.

“Half the money goes to education and the other half of the money the lottery keeps and puts back into prizes for future games,” Tom Shaheen, the executive director of the North Carolina Education Lottery, said.

Henderson resident David Riggan and his son-in-law immediately went down to the lottery office to claim their $1,000 prize Monday morning. Their luck came from a scratch off ticket.

Although it’s a nice jackpot, Riggan wouldn’t mind having the unclaimed ticket worth much more.

“Evidently, he didn’t need it,” Riggan said.

Even Kazezian said she was happy to quickly claim the couple of bucks she won playing the lottery.

“I won $2 so I thought, 'You know what? I'll take my winnings and come home,'” Kazezian said. “I can't even buy a gallon of milk with it, but it's something.”

The winning numbers are 5, 9, 17, 23 and 35. The winner only has until March 2 to claim his or her prize.